The Seed Brings Life
Luke 8:4–15
And when a great crowd was gathering and people from town after town came to [Jesus], He said in a parable: “A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it. And some fell on the rock, and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it. And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold.” As He said these things, He called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
And when His disciples asked Him what this parable meant, He said, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, so that ‘seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.’
“Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. The ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away. And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.” (ESV)
Prayer
Lord God, thank you for your Word. Grant that your Law crushes and cultivates our barren hearts, that we might receive your Word of forgiveness with joy, and hold it fast in an honest and good heart, bearing fruit unto eternal life. Amen.
In Christ, who graciously casts his Word to bring life to us, dear fellow redeemed,
“I simply taught, preached, wrote God’s Word; otherwise I did nothing. And while I slept, or drank Wittenberg beer with my friends Philip and Amsdorf, the Word so greatly weakened the papacy that no prince or emperor ever inflicted such losses upon it. I did nothing; the Word did everything” (Luther; 2nd Invocavit Sermon | 1522).
You can’t help but appreciate Martin Luther’s honest and lively way of communicating truth. Luther understood that the success of the Reformation was not because of his efforts—”I simply taught, preached, wrote God’s Word… I did nothing; the Word did everything.” The Word does it all.
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. How? By simply speaking. God said, “Let there be light;” and there was light (Genesis 1:3). God’s Word has the power to create something out of nothing. This is something beyond our human understanding. All words have meaning, but God’s Word has power. It does what it says (Psalm 33:9). The Word which had the power to create the world out of nothing is the same Word that brings faith and life to the human heart.
Paul writes, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16). The Word of God has the power to save us. Paul and Luther understood that God works through his Word. Yet, the powerful, soul-saving, Word faces many obstacles in this life. In our lesson today, Jesus tells a parable about a Sower casting seed so that we be made aware of the obstacles the Word of God faces in human hearts. Jesus wants us to be saved. He wants us to hear his Word. Therefore, he warns us so that we might examine ourselves to see how we are treating this life-saving and powerful Word. He encourages us to cling to the Word, trust it above all else, because The Seed Brings Life.
In the parable, Jesus describes four different types of soil where the seed was planted. He gives us these various examples so that we might examine our own lives—to see how we are treating the Word of God. Jesus doesn’t want us to be caught unaware—unprepared for the end of our life—whether that is today or in fifty years. He wants us to cling to his Word and treat it as our greatest treasure.
The first type of dirt is a hard rocky path, hardly even dirt at all. The seed is sown but it does nothing more than bounce off the surface. This type of dirt refers to people who hear the Word of God, know what it says, but don’t care what it says. They hear God’s instruction but go on living as if nothing has changed. They refuse to repent. Though they hear the Word with their ears, the devil does not let it enter and take root in their heart.
The second type of dirt is the rocky ground. It’s shallow soil, which means that the seed sprouted immediately, but could not survive the heat of the day. Jesus refers to people who at first respond with joy to the Word, but in the time of cross and temptation fall away like leaves from a tree. When things are going well, God is great. But as soon as trouble comes, they reject him and throw in the towel. Scripture must not only be heard but held fast with an honest and good heart.
The third type of dirt was full of weeds and thorns. Jesus uses this as a picture for Christians who become entangled by the pleasures and distractions of this life, distracted from the One Thing Needful. This is an extremely dangerous temptation for Christians. One of the reasons why this is so easy for Christians to fall into, is that it is slow and gradual. It’s not an immediate rejection of God, but a slow assimilation with the cares of this life, leaving no time and no real concern for God and his Word. Do we treat the Sunday service, or an occasional devotion as a mere add-on to our life—or as the end and goal of it? Do we like God’s Word when it confirms our convictions, but ignore it when it pricks our conscience?
I can’t answer how you are treating the Word. But if we refuse to repent, hear the Word with shallow hearts, or get distracted by the things of this world—we will regret it for eternity. Like the rich man in hell, we would wish someone would tell our family how true God’s Word is. That is why Jesus warns us now—he does not want us to be reckless and careless with his life saving Word. He does not want us to be barren soil, which is why he cuts through our hearts with the plow of the Law to prepare our hearts for his Gospel.
By nature, we are all these first three types of dirt. We are fallen, hardened, and shallow sinners who deserve nothing but death and hell. The devil, the world, and our own sinful flesh want to keep us this way. They don’t want God’s Word to bear fruit in our lives. No matter how hard we try—we cannot make ourselves into good soil. But God can. No man can change himself, but God has the means to change us all into good soil for His Word.
A farmer must plow, dig, and cultivate the ground to prepare it for planting. God does the same with us through the Law. The Law of God crushes the rock of our pride. “’Is not My word like a fire,’ declares the Lord, ‘and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?’” (Jeremiah 23:29). The Law plows our hearts. This can be a painful process. It unearths the rock our pride, cuts through our tough surface showing that there are no excuses for our sin. It shows us our need, but the Law cannot bring life—it cannot save us.
Only the Gospel saves. God’s Law shows us where we have failed, but the Gospel shows us what Jesus has done to save you. Those who know their sin receive no greater joy than hearing God’s Word of promise, that in Christ Jesus, we have a Savior who fulfilled the Law for us and conquered death on the cross.
The Word points to Jesus—who was the perfect soil. He listened to God’s Word and kept it. He withstood the temptations of the devil, overcame the temptations of the world, and abstained from the desires of the flesh. Then to save us from the death we deserved, Jesus took our place as the bad soil, which led him to the cross to pay for our sins and rise again for our justification. He was the Seed of the woman that crushed Satan’s head.
The seed sowed is the Word of God. The Word brings life; the Word does it all. Jesus is the Word made flesh and he has brought life to you and me. We do nothing, Jesus does it all. By the power of his Word he creates in us new hearts—good soil, that the Gospel might bear fruit in us.
Wherever the Word of God is preached, there is the power to save. Did you notice how much the devil tries to take it from us? He tries to snatch it away because he knows the power of God’s Word. The devil knows that it is the power of God unto salvation. Do we? Do we realize that the Word we hear preached each Sunday, study at home, and think about during the week—is the imperishable seed? Meaning—that it will not fail?
Until we leave this world, the devil tries to snatch the word from us or make us grow deaf to it. While Jesus gives us three examples where the Word bore no fruit, it’s not limited to those. After seeing three out of the four bearing no fruit, we might be tempted to be discouraged. But we shouldn’t be. The devil, though cunning, is no match for God’s Word. The world, though tempting, is no replacement for God’s goodness. We, though weak, are not beyond God’s grace and help.
Wherever the Word of God preached, heard, and believed, it bears fruit. No heart is so rocky, that God can’t break through. Christ Jesus came to save sinners. He came to break down our stony hearts and gives us the gift of life. And the faith which he creates in us, bears fruits. The chief fruit being—a love for God’s Word—for his Gospel—and for Jesus.
My dad once shared a story with me about a member at one of the first congregations he served. The man was an old Norwegian, who had worked most of life as a cowboy in Montana. The pastor who served before my dad said that there was no point to go visit this man in the nursing home, because he was now deaf and blind. But my dad did go to visit him, and he eventually found out from one of the nurses, that if he yelled into his right ear, Jacob would be able to hear him.
So, my dad went up to him, and yelled into his right ear, “HELLO, JACOB! I AM YOUR PASTOR!” Jacob replied in a Norwegian brogue, “Oh, Presten!” The Norwegian word for pastor. He was overjoyed! His pastor had come. He had come to preach the Word of God. So, my dad, continued to preach to this man, yelling into his ear, so that he could hear the Word of God. Jacob treated these words as the most precious news in the world.
Jacob also shared a room with another man. Whenever my dad would come to preach to Jacob, his roommate, became furious. He would yell, “What kind of preaching is that!” And tell my father to stop his preaching with words not fit for a sermon, to the amusement of the nursing staff. But Jacob, who was deaf in his left ear, could not hear his roommate at all. When the pastor preached to him, despite the yelling and obscenities spoken by his roommate, all he could hear was the voice of his Good Shepherd, spoken through the Pastor.
This is one of my favorite stories for two reasons. First, Jacob loved the Word of God. He treasured every yelled word, which to him sounded like the tender voice of his Good Shepherd. Secondly, it serves as a great picture of the Christian life. The devil and the world yell and scream to shut down the Word of God and distract us from it—sort of like Jacob’s roommate. But Jesus calls out to us through his Word, calling us to repent and trust in his forgiveness so that we might be saved. He says, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.” He wants us to cling to his love and mercy with joy despite all outward circumstances.
May God grant us all a love for God’s Word, a sincere desire and joy to hear it, like Jacob. As we hear the taunts of the devil and tempted by the distractions of this world, may we continue to listen only to our Shepherd’s voice. For then we will be safe. Then we will be, like the seed planted on good soil, which produces a hundred-fold—eternal life. “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” Amen.